title: Optical trapping and spectroscopic characterisation of ionic liquid solutions.
abstract: This paper presents a study of the optical trapping of aerosols containing ionic liquid (IL). Droplets comprised of aqueous solutions of the IL ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) are demonstrated to be readily trapped by optical tweezers and are characterized spectroscopically, by analysing the morphology dependent resonances present within backscattered light originating from a broadband light emitting diode. The response of the droplets to conditions of varying relative humidity has also been investigated, as an important first step in measuring the uptake of gases by ILs. Finally, a comparison between broadband Mie scattering and cavity enhanced Raman spectroscopies is provided.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Physical & Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QZ, UK.
authors.forename: Lee J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Summers
authors.forename: Grant A D
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Ritchie
mesh_terms: D052578:Ionic Liquids / Q000737:chemistry*; D052898:Optical Tweezers; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions
chemical_list: D052578:Ionic Liquids; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds; D012996:Solutions; C421484:ethylammonium